Legato Capital Management LLC Sells 21,818 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Legato Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 51.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,961 shares of the bank's stock after selling 21,818 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC's holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,579,719 shares of the bank's stock worth $75,842,000 after purchasing an additional 53,621 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank's stock valued at $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank's stock valued at $20,189,000 after purchasing an additional 331,997 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 386,291 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,546,000 after purchasing an additional 77,228 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 305,043 shares of the bank's stock worth $14,645,000 after acquiring an additional 24,615 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CATY shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $41.83 and a twelve month high of $58.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's 50 day moving average is $53.15 and its 200 day moving average is $51.12.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341. 4.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.

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